Parliament For Charles example essay topic

For many years, Parliament has had the power to keep England's rulers under control by checking their power. Sometimes Parliament would go so far as to deny the monarch his finances. James I and his son, Charles I, were two monarchs with which Parliament caused problems. James I and Charles I disputed with Parliament over finances, religion, divine right, and foreign policy, eventually leading to a civil war. Parliament as unreasonably upset when James I ended the war with Spain. Since he made peace with Spain against Parliament's will, members of Parliament became furious with him.

They began believing that James was a Catholic but thought that he did not want to admit it. He arranged the marriage of his son, Charles I, to a nice young lady. Because she was Spanish Catholic, Parliament disliked this arrangement. Charles eventually married a Catholic woman from France. Parliament also disagreed with the way that Charles handled the foreign policy after he came into power. He tried to enlighten the Scottish by sharing the Anglican "Book of Common Prayer" to which he added a couple of Catholic rituals.

Not only did he upset Parliament with his idea to spread the changed faith, but he also upset the Scottish. These incidents increased the tension between the monarchs and Parliament which helped to lead them into a civil war. Parliament did not want to accept that James I, along with his son, had the divine right to rule England. The two kings were correct in believing that they should have absolute power, because with God's help, they would be able to rule England in the best way possible.

Charles I was not to blame for lodging troops in private homes because he was anointed by God to rule. They both opposed the Puritans, and since the Puritans made up most of Parliament, this did not benefit them much. The Puritans hated James and Charles with a passion because they would not let the Puritans change the traditions of the Church of England. The Puritans hated everything that was Catholic related. Since Parliament would not grant most of Charles' requests, he made the correct decision to rule eleven years without their help. Because of the Puritans' influence in Parliament, James and Charles disagreed with them on many issues.

These problems that the Puritans caused also contributed to leading Parliament and the monarchs into civil war. After hosting an expensive party, Parliament complained that James I spent too much money. They refused to provide more funds. He had to create other ways to raise funds for his endeavors.

He began copying from the Tudor monarchs by selling titles of nobility. Charles had the same problems, but he found a different way to raise money. He took loans from landowners. It angered Parliament for Charles to raise funds on his own. When he asked Parliament for money to fight a war against Scotland, they only gave him enough to pay the Scottish off to make them go home. He declared martial law and began lodging his troops in private homes to save money.

Parliament whole-heartedly disagreed with these actions, so they wrote the petition of rights. It was suitable for Charles to ignore the petition since Parliament would not provide him with the needed funds. Parliament then wrote the 19 propositions to try to limit the power of Charles. This was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak. It marked the beginning of the English Civil War. Parliament was constantly trying to limit James' and Charles' power in these issues: foreign policy, divine right, religion, and finance.

With the influence of the Puritans, Parliament increased tension and eventually caused the English Civil War. They tried to limit the power of Charles and James too much. They justified it by believing that the two monarchs were Catholics and saying that they spent too much money. If Parliament would have let the monarchs run the country without trying to limit their power, then this war would not have been fought..